Coleman's Case on Life Support

It really comes down to this:

Republican Norm Coleman's case in the U.S. Senate trial, once built on the prospects of counting thousands of rejected absentee ballots, is now down to 1,360 ballots or fewer.

And how do these ballots, should the panel decide to add them, break down:

Even if the court accepts all of the 1,360 ballots for counting, it's not clear Coleman's gains would be large.

Dean Barkley and other candidates won 17 percent of the vote in the counties Coleman's ballots came from. If those ballots go for Barkley in the same way, it would further reduce the pool that Coleman can tap.

If the ballots identified by Coleman were allocated to the candidates based on the percentage of the vote each got in the counties the ballots came from, Coleman would pick up 596 votes, Franken would pick up 539 and other candidates would get 225.

Whatever Coleman picks up from his list could be diluted by any ballots Franken identifies and the court approves.

Not only are Senator Coleman's electoral chances significantly diminished, his political future is severely tarnished. His only practical hope, is to man up, take his own advice, and let the healing begin. Its about the only chance he has to begin rebuild his own political career, if it isn't too late already.

Flash